Newcastle fans are celebrating their win over Spurs yesterday who were more of a threat than they have been in some recent games.
It is getting close to 100 years since Newcastle United were
champions of England, in 1927, and 2025 could be the year the club decide to
leave St James’ Park. They still have the not inconsiderable wealth of Saudi
Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the headlock of the Premier League’s
Profitability and Sustainability Rules to break free from and a resurgent team
with the Champions League in their sights once more. These are complicated
times.
January could be a third successive transfer window with no
significant signing, but that could allow them in the summer to once again flex
the financial might that had supporters celebrating outside St James’ Park in
October 2021 when the takeover was completed.
However it all plays out, the next six months are pivotal
for the club. If there is to be a first big push to land the Premier
League crown since the emotional anguish of the failed attempt in 1996,
then certain bricks are being put in place and they should not be removed.
Developing St James’ Park to increase its 52,300-seat
capacity or moving to a new stadium is one of the biggest decisions in recent
memory.
An announcement led by the club’s chief operating officer,
Brad Miller, is expected in the spring. The scale of a fight to develop land in
Leazes Park should the club decide it is too restricted to expand St James’
Park should not be underestimated. It would be the kind of political battle
that Newcastle under Saudi ownership have so far steered clear of, and, based
on the backlash provoked when such a move was tried in 1995, could take years.
Newcastle fought against local conservation groups and
Friends of the Earth for nearly two years. Even after they finally received the
green light, the potential of more challenges, legal disputes and an
astronomical project bill meant they scrapped plans for a stadium that would
have had a capacity of 55,000, with the possibility of being expanded to
70,000. Instead they redeveloped St James’.
Expanding the Gallowgate End and possibly the East Stand
would cost in the region of £1billion. A new ground would be three times as
expensive. Both projects would take years.
It was interesting, then, to see West Ham United, a club who
moved stadium in 2016, announce an increase in turnover to £280million in their
most recent accounts, less than Newcastle expect to post for 2024.
Howe insists that PIF’s plan on day one of the takeover —
when the expressed desire was to win the Premier League and the Champions
League within five to ten years — still remains in place, despite the
introduction of Associated Party Transaction rules shortly afterwards.
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